Past Tense (অতীত কাল)

অতীত কালের কোন কাজ বোঝাতে  past tense ব্যবহৃত হয়।

The past tense is used to express an action that occurred in the past.

Past tense is classified into four categories.

• Past Indefinite Tense
• Past Continuous Tense
• Past Perfect Tense
• Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Past Indefinite Tense

অতীত কালের কোন কাজ এবং অতীতের কোন অভ্যাস কে বোঝাতে past tense ব্যবহৃত হয়।

The past indefinite Tense describes an action completed in the past or a habit of past.

বাংলায় চেনার উপায়: বাংলায় ক্রিয়ার শেষে ল, লাম, ত, তাম, তে, তেন,ছিল, অথবা, ছিলাম থাকলে সাধারণত past tense হয়ে থাকে।    

Example:

• I went to the market - আমি বাজারে গিয়েছিলাম।
• He ate rice - সে ভাত খেলো।
• They played cricket - তারা ক্রিকেট খেলেছিল।

Structure of the sentence: The past form of the verb or the second form of the verb is used as the main verb.

Positive sentence:

Subject + past form of verb + object.

Example:

• He bought a book
• They went to the shopping mall.
• I revised the lesson.

Negative sentence:

Subject + did + not + present form of the verb + object.

Example:

• He did not eat rice.
• They did not laugh at the poor.
• I did not go to the market.

Interrogative sentence:

Did + subject + present form of the verb + object + note of interrogation (?)

Example:

• Did you eat rice?
• Did you come home?
• Did they finish the work?

Past indefinite tense with was/were:

Positive sentence:

Subject + was/were + object.

Example:

• I was at school.
• He did the work.
• You were in Thailand.

Note: I/he/she/it এবং subject যদি singular number হয় তাহলে was বসে, you/they/we এবং subject যদি plural number হয় তাহলে were বসে।

Negative sentence:

Subject + was not/were not + object.

Example:

• He was not happy with me.
• You were not in Chittagong.
• She was not sick.

Interrogative sentence:

Was/were + subject + object + note of interrogation (?)

Example:

• Were you in Africa?
• Was she sick?
• Were you my friend?

Past Continuous Tense

অতীত কালে কিছু সময়ের জন্য কোন কাজ চলছিল বোঝালে Past Continuous Tense ব্যবহৃত হয়। 

Past continuous tense is used to express the action which was continued for some time in the past. It describes an on-going past action.

বাংলায় চেনার উপায়: বাংলায় ক্রিয়ার শেষে তেছিল, তেছিলাম, তেছিলে, তেছিলেন, চ্ছিল, চ্ছিলে, চ্ছিলেন, ছিল, ছিলাম, ছিলে, অথবা ছিলেন থাকলে সাধারণত past tense হয়ে থাকে।  

Example:

• He was reading the book - সে বইটি পড়ছিলো/পড়তেছিল।
• They were playing football - তারা ফুটবল খেলছিল।
• The birds were flying in the sky - পাখিরা আকাশে উড়ছিল।

Structure of the sentence:

Positive sentence:

Subject + was/were + present form of the verb + ing + object.

Example:

• He was singing a song.
• They were walking together.
• You were talking like a teacher.

Note: Subject first and third person singular হলে was বসবে। You/we/they এবং অন্যান্য plural subject এর শেষে were বসবে।

Negative sentence:

Subject + was not/were not + present form of the verb + ing + object.

Example:

• I was not taking tea.
• He was not teaching English.
• They were reading in the classroom.

Interrogative sentence:

• Was/were + subject + present form of the verb + ing + object + note of interrogation (?)

Example:

• Was he reading the book?
• Were they traveling to Chittagong?
• Was she singing the song?

Past Perfect Tense

অতীত কালে দুটি কাজ সম্পূর্ণ হলে যে কাজটি আগে হয় সেটি past perfect tense হয় এবং যে কাজটি পরে হয় সেটি past indefinite tense হয়।

The past perfect tense indicates two works that were completed in the past; past indefinite tense is used in the second or later action.

বাংলায় চেনার উপায়: বাংলায় ক্রিয়ার শেষে ছিল, ছিলাম, ছিলে, ছিলেন, ল, লাম, লে, লেন, তাম, তে, অথবা, তেন, ইত্যাদি থাকলে সাধারণত past tense হয়ে থাকে।  

Example:

• The train had left before I ate - আমি খাওয়ার আগেই ট্রেন ছেড়ে দিয়েছিল।
• He had come home before I went to school - আমি স্কুলে যাওয়ার পূর্বেই সে বাড়ি এসেছিল।
• The students had left the class before the bell rang - ঘন্টা পরার পূর্বেই ছাত্রছাত্রীরা ক্লাস ত্যাগ করেছিল।

Structure of the sentence: auxiliary verb ‘had,’ and past participle form of the verb is used as the main verb.

Positive sentence:

Structure 1:

Subject + had + past participle form of the verb + object.

Structure 2:

1^st Subject + had + past participle form of the verb + object (if any) + before + 2^nd subject + past form of the verb + 2^nd object

Structure 3:

2^nd subject + past form of the verb + 2^nd object (if any)+ after+1^st Subject + had + past participle form of the verb    

Example:

• He had done this assignment last week. (1^st structure)
• The students had stood up before the teacher came.
• The patient died after the doctor had come.

Negative sentence:

Subject + had not + past participle form of verb + object.

Example:

• I had not watched the movie.
• He had not reached the station.
• They had not told me anything before the viva started.

Interrogative sentence:

Yes/no sentence: Had + subject + past participle form of the verb + object +?

‘Wh’ question: Wh-word + had + past participle form of the verb + object +?

Example:

• Had you finished the work before his presentation?
• Had he caught the cat before she drank the milk?
• Why had you broken the glass?
• What had you done before I came home?

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

অতীত কালে কোন কাজ কোন বিশেষ সময়ের পূর্বে আরম্ভ হয়ে সেই সময় পর্যন্ত চলছিল বোঝালে past perfect continuous tense হয়। 

যদি দুটি কাজের কথা উল্লেখ থাকে তাহলে যে কাজটি আগে ঘটেছিলো সেই কাজটির past perfect continuous tense হবে।

It describes an ongoing action which started in the past and continued for sometimes in the past. ‘For’ and ‘since’ are used to show the time reference, and it expresses when the action started and how long the work continued in the past.

বাংলায় চেনার উপায়: বাংলায় ক্রিয়ার শেষে তেছিল, তেছিলে, তেছিলাম, তেছিলেন, চ্ছিল, চ্ছিলাম, চ্ছিলে, চ্ছিলেন, এদের যে কোন একটি উল্লেখ থাকলে সাধারনত past perfect continuous tense বোঝায়।

এক্ষেত্রে, কিছু বিষয়ের প্রতি খেয়াল রাখতে হবে:

• অতীত কালে দুটি কাজ হয়েছিল।
• একটি কাজ আগে এবং অপর কাজটি পরে সংগঠিত হয়েছিল।
• যে কাজটি পূর্বে শুরু হয়েছিল সেটি দীর্ঘ সময় ধরে চলেছিল।

Example:

• They had been playing before the train came - ট্রেন আসার পূর্বে তারা খেলতেছিলো।
• I had been reading the book before you called - তুমি কল করার পূর্বে আমি বই পড়তেছিলাম।
• She had been watching the Television when I came to meet with her - আমি যখন তার সাথে দেখা করতে আসলাম তখন সে টেলিভিশন দেখতেছিলো।
• He had been playing football since morning - সে সকাল থেকে ফুটবল খেলতেছিলো।

Structure of the sentence:

Positive sentence:

 Structure 1:

 Subject + had been + present form of verb + ing + object + time reference

 Structure 2:

 1^st subject + had been + present form of verb + ing + 1^st object + 2^nd subject + verb এর past form + 2^nd object.

Example:

• He had been working in a non-government organization since 1997.
• They had been gossiping for two hours.
• He had been playing cricket before the bell rang.
• I had been watching the movie before you came.

Negative sentence:

Subject + had not been + present form of the verb + ing + object + time reference.

Example:

• He had not been working in a non-government organization since 1997.
• He had not been doing his assignment since 10 o’clock.
• They had not been eating lunch for two months.

Interrogative sentence:

Had + subject + been + present form of the verb + ing + object + time reference +?

Example:

• Had he been walking since morning?
• Had you been helping the poor since 2009?
• Had they been playing cricket for six years?